Dr Agnieszka (Aga) Iwasiewicz-Wabnig FRSA
Director, Maxwell Centre
Cambridge Zero Industrial Strategy Lead
aga@maxwell.cam.ac.uk
tel. +44 (0) 1223 761669
Room 2.70, Maxwell Centre
Bio:
Dr Agnieszka (Aga) Iwasiewicz-Wabnig FRSA is the Maxwell Centre Director, Industrial Strategy Lead for the Cambridge Zero initiative, as well as a Fellow of Hughes Hall and a Cambridge Enterprise Champion. Her original training in science (PhD in physics) is complemented with executive education from the Stanford Graduate School of Business, where she was recognised with the Impact Award for her cohort of the Stanford LEAD programme.
Aga carried out research and teaching in interdisciplinary nanoscience at Umeå University in Sweden, as well as at Oxford and Cambridge in the UK. Since 2009 she has held a range of roles at the University of Cambridge, unified by their super-connector and knowledge broker aspects. Further details can be found on her LinkedIN profile.
As the Director of the Maxwell Centre, Aga drives knowledge exchange between academia and industry, leading a programme of engagements across physical sciences, technology and beyond. This involves matching of needs and solutions between partners and disciplines, showcasing the current work of academic groups, and enabling companies and entrepreneurs to spend time building meaningful relationships with academics around research. Furthermore, Aga is interested in broader context of academic research and its downstream use – innovation and technology transfer, enabling relevant access to University facilities, evidence-based policy, sustainability, public outreach and impact.
Within the University-wide Cambridge Zero initiative directed by Dr Emily Shuckburgh OBE, Aga leads an active interface for industry to engage around delivery of the Zero Carbon future through a range of activities and research collaborations. This is a joint effort involving many partners, including Energy IRC, Royce@Cambridge, Faraday Institution and several external stakeholders. She is also a founder of the Cambridge Zero Demonstrators Laboratory at the Maxwell Centre.
On the Science-Technology-Medicine side, Aga is championing broader engagement between West Cambridge scientists and engineers, and the Cambridge Biomedical Campus. This involves a direct link with the Office for Translational Research, as well as a multiparty partnership initially set up to deliver the Research England Health Tech Connect University Enterprise Zone which now operates the Connect: HealthTech community of practice. Aga is particularly interested in fostering interdisciplinary approaches to developing medical technologies and increasing sustainability in the health sector.
Aga enjoys starting up new initiatives, bringing people together to tackle interdisciplinary challenges, lifelong learning and inventing new ways of bringing about positive change. She applies the Stanford GSB motto “Change Lives. Change Organizations. Change the World.” through her work and considers Cambridge an ideal place for innovating, adapting and re-developing ourselves as well as the world around us.
Other roles:
Cambridge Enterprise Champion, Fellow of Hughes Hall